New data released this morning from the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI) shows that mortgage approvals continued to trend higher in February. The volume of mortgage approvals grew by 7% year on year (yoy) in February (+11% on a two-year comparison), while the value of approvals was up by 14% yoy (+24% on a two-year comparison). On a rolling three-month comparison, the volume of approvals grew by 17% relative to two-years previously (+31% by value).
 
In the past twelve months, €13.6bn in mortgages have been approved, a new record high in a series going back to 2011. This is 22% higher than pre-pandemic levels. The strongest growth has been in remortgaging (+40%), with this category accounting for 14% of total approvals. Despite its growing share, it remains low compared to UK levels (c.30%), suggesting further growth in share over the coming period. The value of approvals for First Time Buyers (FTBs) grew by 27% over the period. FTBs are new entrants to the owner-occupied housing sector.
 
According to Goodbody Stockbrokers, "The total number of approvals amounted to 29K over the past twelve months, and these are competing for a very small number of new housing completions available for purchase. This explains the growing backlog of demand for new homes as well as a record low level of housing stock for sale that was confirmed by daft.ie yesterday as c.10K units. In other words, household demand is not the problem, the scale of affordable supply is."

Source: www.businessworld.ie